Chapter 38 : The Sect Master’s Deputy
Chapter 38: The Sect Master’s Deputy
After Sect Master Zhuge finally finished reviewing the backlog of accumulated documents, Shi Manyu carried the thick stack of work results that embodied her master’s painstaking effort and returned to the side wing of the main hall, to the workspace reserved exclusively for her.
As one of the sect master’s disciples, she was neither the most trusted senior eldest sister, nor the most doted-upon junior youngest sister, nor the one with the highest cultivation or the most outstanding appearance among her peers.
Yet it was precisely her who had been firmly pressed into the position of sect master’s deputy by her own “notoriously lazy” master—becoming the sect’s nominal second-in-command.
One could even say that if the sect master position were to change hands in the future, Shi Manyu would be one of the pre-designated candidates, securely ranked within the top three.
As for why she had been chosen at the time—a newly advanced Golden Core cultivator whose rank was not even top-tier—to shoulder such responsibility, the reason was exceedingly simple: she was the most suitable.
This position did not fundamentally require earth-shaking cultivation, but rather endless patience, extreme meticulousness, the ability to handle massive volumes of affairs, and a certain degree of interest in and desire to control the operation of power.
In fact… if not for preserving the dignity of the Nine-Xia Heavenly Sect—where people felt that the second-in-command ought, at the very least, to be a Golden Core True Person—even assigning the role to someone at the Qi Refining stage, or even to a highly capable mortal, would hardly have made any difference.
Shi Manyu was naturally also a genius.
Or rather… anyone capable of forming a Golden Core, even the lowest-grade one, had already reached a height that the vast majority of cultivators would never attain in their entire lives.
Yet her understanding of herself was exceptionally clear.
Compared to those true geniuses within the sect who could create their own cultivation methods, refine divine abilities, or even carve out a unique path like Senior Sister Zhiying, she was still far behind.
Since that was the case, she might as well devote her energy to places where it was more appropriate—such as managing the sect as a massive machine, keeping its daily, tedious operations running smoothly, and cleaning up all kinds of unexpected messes.
She had just finished sorting the documents approved by her master into their respective categories and was about to begin the next step of archiving and distribution when the door to the workspace was suddenly shoved open with a loud bang.
“Senior Sister Manyu!”
Shi Manyu did not even lift her head.
Just from the voice and the momentum of the entrance, she already knew who it was.
“Huaisu?” Her hands did not pause as she neatly organized the jade slips.
“What wind blew you over here? I thought at this hour you’d be sampling delicacies at some eatery in Qixia Town.”
The visitor was none other than Zhu Huaisu, disciple of True Person Mingzhu.
From the way she entered without the slightest formality, it was obvious that the two were quite close in private.
“I heard that True Person Zhiying accepted a new personally transmitted disciple, so I thought I’d come over and join the excitement. Who knew that no matter how much I hurried, I’d still be too late—the cloud vessel had already flown out of sight,” Zhu Huaisu said with a hint of annoyance.
“Is that so? That really is a pity,” Shi Manyu replied evenly.
“She’s a very beautiful little girl, and more importantly, she possesses a talent for sensing the power of time. The limelight of your family’s junior brother Nan Yuchen, the so-called ‘number one rising star of the sect,’ will probably be shared away in large part very soon.”
As she spoke, her hands remained orderly, each document being accurately placed into a different rack.
“No way!”
Zhu Huaisu retorted immediately, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.
“Our Yuchen’s potential is far from fully developed yet! Power over time… hmph, it—it doesn’t amount to much!”
The moment the words left her mouth, even she felt a bit guilty.
How could she not know what such a talent represented? But once her protective instincts kicked in, she simply refused to hear anyone belittle her junior brother.
After sulking for a moment, she finally remembered the real reason she had come and pulled out a stack of documents from her storage pouch, handing them over.
“Forget it, let’s not talk about that. I came today for something else. The renovation and upgrade project at the Spirit Spring Garden of our Moon-Washing Peak has been completely finished. These are all the project records and acceptance reports. Take a look—if there’s no problem, help file them away.”
This kind of small, peak-internal project did not really need to be reported to the sect master, but Moon-Washing Peak had always maintained close ties with the sect master’s line.
This was more a matter of showing attitude and respect.
Shi Manyu was naturally too lazy to carefully read such tedious engineering records.
She accepted them casually and flipped through them absentmindedly, intending to go through the motions before putting them away.
However, when she turned to the record of a certain day, her movements suddenly stopped.
That handwriting… and that detailed yet not redundant, clearly structured recording format…
She subconsciously pulled that booklet out separately and rapidly flipped through several pages back and forth, her eyes growing brighter and brighter.
That was it! Exactly this style! Detailed, orderly, covering everything without losing clarity of priority—looking like a lot of words, yet refreshing and smooth to read!
For someone like her, who was tormented daily by massive volumes of inefficient paperwork, this was nothing short of a clear spring in the height of summer!
She raised her head and looked at Zhu Huaisu, shaking the booklet in her hand.
Her tone carried a trace of playful probing.
“Huaisu, the recording style in this one is completely different from the ones before and after it. It’s particularly easy on the eyes.”
Zhu Huaisu only needed one glance at that familiar handwriting for her brows to knit together uncontrollably.
She inwardly cried out that things were going badly, but on the surface could only barely maintain her composure.
“Indeed… the person recording those days was… temporarily replaced.”
“Oh?”
A knowing smile curved at the corners of Shi Manyu’s lips.
Those eyes, adept at handling countless complicated affairs, keenly caught the fleeting unnaturalness in Zhu Huaisu’s expression.
She leaned forward slightly, stared into Zhu Huaisu’s eyes, and slowly, deliberately tested her words, one by one:
“Is that so? Don’t tell me… that temporary recorder… was named Long Tao?”
“How did you know—!”
The words burst out uncontrollably! Zhu Huaisu instantly realized her mistake and clapped a hand over her mouth, but her widened eyes were filled with regret.
Watching Zhu Huaisu’s flustered, transparently evasive reaction, the smile on Shi Manyu’s face grew ever more meaningful.
She gently placed the engineering record booklet on the table and tapped the tabletop lightly with her fingertips, producing crisp tapping sounds.
She knew very well that for an utterly ordinary, background-less Qi-Refining Fifth Layer outer sect disciple to provoke such a reaction from the high-status Princess Huaisu under True Person Mingzhu’s tutelage, there had to be a story between them.
And judging by the situation, their relationship was far from simple—certainly not just casual acquaintance.
Under Shi Manyu’s seemingly soul-piercing gaze, Zhu Huaisu grew increasingly uncomfortable.
Knowing she could not hide it, she could only steel herself and say somewhat irritably,
“Fine, fine! I admit it, I know that Long Tao! He—he may only be at the Qi-Refining Fifth Layer, but he’s awful! Full of bad ideas! All day long he does nothing but egg my junior brother on into doing ridiculous things!”
The more she spoke, the angrier she became, as if she had found an outlet.
“Yes! I admit he’s got a bit of cleverness when it comes to writing things like this—it does look fairly decent! But before doing things, one must first be a decent person.
His character is bad, his intentions are crooked! No matter how capable such a person is, they must never be entrusted with important responsibilities! Senior Sister Manyu, you absolutely must not be fooled by this bit of superficial polish!”
Shi Manyu narrowed her eyes and listened quietly to the entire tirade, the playful smile on her face never diminishing in the slightest.
One reason Shi Manyu could sit firmly in the position of sect master’s deputy was that she never listened to only one side.
Zhu Huaisu’s words were emotionally charged and the accusations severe, but upon closer examination, they were riddled with holes.
If that Long Tao were truly as rotten to the core as she claimed, and had brazenly instigated Moon-Washing Peak’s precious junior brother into committing some heaven-defying “great evil”… then with True Person Mingzhu’s notoriously protective nature, how could Long Tao possibly still be alive and kicking, intact and strolling around the sect?
Sect rules strictly forbade private fighting and harm to fellow disciples, but that was for ordinary people.
With True Person Mingzhu’s status and strength, if he truly wished to make a rootless Qi Refining disciple disappear “reasonably,” there were countless ways to do so—without causing the slightest ripple, and without anyone asking a single extra question.
Since Long Tao was still perfectly fine, it could only mean one thing: the so-called “bad things” he had done were, in True Person Mingzhu’s eyes, utterly insignificant—perhaps nothing more than junior disciples’ mischief, dismissed with a laugh.
Seeing the expression on Shi Manyu’s face that clearly said “as if I’d believe that,” Zhu Huaisu grew so anxious she could have stomped her feet.
The scandalous incident of Nan Yuchen being instigated into peeping at his master while bathing was something she absolutely could not say out loud! It was suffocating her!
Along with it, her resentment toward the true culprit, Long Tao, instantly skyrocketed by several more levels.
“Alright, alright,” Shi Manyu finally spoke, her tone carrying a hint of dismissive indulgence, as if placating a child.
“Whatever personal grievances you have with that Junior Brother Long Tao, I can’t be bothered to dig into them. But rest assured, I’ll keep your reminder in mind to some extent. If I ever have to interact with him, I’ll be a bit on guard.”
Her words were impeccably balanced—comforting Zhu Huaisu without fully accepting her one-sided claims.
Hearing this, Zhu Huaisu finally relaxed a little, though she still could not resist emphasizing once more,
“Mm! Senior Sister Manyu, you really must be careful! That Long Tao has an especially sharp tongue—he’s best at bewitching people’s hearts! You absolutely must not be fooled by his tricks!”
Shi Manyu smiled faintly and neither agreed nor disagreed.
She simply placed that engineering record written in Long Tao’s hand into a conspicuous slot nearby, setting it aside on its own.